New to the Desoto world

sorry for the pics being so large and cut off not sure of the process here, lol. I have all of the chrome and trim peices minus just 2 hopefully with the help of some of you in here I may come across what I need.

Ryan,

Welcome to the Club and this Forum. Lots of great help can be found here. Once you get the '55 on the road you will find it to be a great road car. I'm the '55 model year coordinator and can help you with parts and some technical issues. I'm no mechanic but others here are so you will find answers to most of your questions. You can find my contact info by clicking the "Resources" link to the left.

Mark

Thank you Maerk. Maybe you can answer me a few questions. Parts wise I have an interesting part on my chariot that I havent seen on any other 55 that I have seen pics of. It is a stamped stainless raingaurd for each door. I am missing one and missing passenger rocker chrome, but the raingaurds are interesting to me because of the fact that I havnt seen them on any other desotos. What can you tell me about these and the secondary strip of chrome under the main peice of trim running down the side of my car that also seems to be rare on these 55's?

Ryan

Welcome to The World of De Soto's.

By letting others know what city you are in
or near lets others know they may easly
help you.

Remember that all of us started with very
little knowledge. Feel free to ask your
questions ... before you change or purchase
this or that.

*****************************************************
Hint #1
Remember the Positive ( + ) Red Wire from the
Battery is the one to bolt to the car.

Keep the Negitive ( - ) Black Wire from The
Battery away from the car.

Hint #2
The Lug Bolts which hold on the Wheels are
Left Hand On the Left.

Hint #3
Mix an even 50% to 50% of the lowest costing
automatic transmission fluid with Acetone ( found
in the paint deptment at Lowes, Walmart and
The Home Depot ). Shake - Shake - Skake and
then pour into a HD spray bottle that has a clear
look into container. With every part of the car
that should move or to be moved Shake - Shake
- Shake the spray bottle then spray just enough
to wet the item.

Cost per once this is cheaper than PB Blaster, W D
40 or what ever you may find.

With some items it may be best to start two
days before the actual work time.
*****************************************************

Rodger & Gabby
COS

Ryan,

Your car appears to be a two color tone Fireflite without a color sweep. A two tone Fireflite without the sweep would have a single molding down the side and the top would be one color and the body another. This molding would be the same on a solid color car. The Fireflite molding is different than the Firedome molding on cars without a color sweep. Both the Fireflite and Firedome models could be ordered as two tone with a color sweep. These would have the sweep the same color as the top. These cars had molding which bordered the top and bottom of the color sweep. The sweep molding was the same on both the Fireflite and Firedome models.

The rain guards or vent shades on your car were an aftermarket item which were purchased back in the day from a place like Western Auto. These are still available for modern cars but are probably made of plastic.

Good luck with getting your DeSoto back on the road.

Mac

It's rare to find the rocker panel molding in decent condition for your car, but here is a pair currently on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-56-Chrysle ... es&vxp=mtr

Mac

Ryan

This may be of some help to you.

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/N ... index.html

Rodger & Gabby
COS

Just a quick "hello" and welcome to the club and the online forum! Keep us posted with your progress.

Tim

Ryan....not ignoring your request for info. As usual, Mac's response was dead on. It seems that more early productions '55 did not have the color sweep two-tone paint treatment seen on many '55's. Provide your serial number and we can determine if it was early or late in the model year run.

Mac...that eBay link is for replacement rocker panels, not rocker panel moldings.

Mark

Welcome, Ryan, and congratulations to you for obtaining such a great car!
Looking forward to reports on your progress.

Thank you everyone. I appreciate any and all help I can get. And to answer your question Rodger Im in syracuse, Indiana. The car was originally from Kansas and purchased from a salvage yard by an Indiana salvage yard owner. After playin with the car a bit he gave up and put it in the yard to rot with the other steel corpses. I wanted it from the first time I saw it. Its mine now obviously and am really looking forward to getting her on the road. I have alot of plans for my girl already but I must warn you that they are not of original restoration. I know alot of folks on here have strong convictions about keeping there Desoto's original. But when I get into a relationship with a car I build what I invision. So please have patience with me, and dont be angry with the outcome. Thanks again.

Ryan...modifying your DeSoto will not offend anyone here when you consider the alternative for your car. It could have ended up with tons of exported scrap to China. So...good luck with your project!

Syracuse, Indiana. You're just a little bit east of Nappanee; there is a long-time DeSoto Club member there by the name of Donnie George. If you look him up he will probably know about local resources in your area. Donnie owns a peach and white '57 Firesweep Sportsman hardtop and is a great guy.

Mark

Thanks Mark, yeah napanee is just 20 miles from here. I will try to contact him when i am ready when in need of parts. Thanks again.

Modify away, Ryan, and make your car your own. I'm always very happy to see any car saved from the scrap heap, barn, corn field, etc. and made useful again, and treasured as someone's pride and joy. I hope I get to see your car some day. Maybe look into bringing it to the annual Hot Rod Nationals here in Louisville, Kentucky (11,000 plus hot rods!). I've seen a couple of great DeSotos at this show in the past.

Please keep the photos coming!